Transgender judge breaks barriers
Published 11/11/2010
by Matthew S. Bajko
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5228Twenty-one years ago Victoria Kolakowski did what most law school graduates do, she applied to take her bar exam. But the Louisiana State Bar Association rejected her application.
"I was initially denied because they said I was not of a sound mind," said Kolakowski, who received a joint Juris Doctor (law) degree and Master of Public Administration from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
The problem, in the eyes of the legal group, was that she had listed herself as a transsexual in explaining why she had changed her legal name. Kolakowski appealed the decision to the Louisiana State Court, which unanimously voted to allow her to take the exam.
